


The Rain Echos [DSMP AU]

by tubboexists



Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Abuse, Abusive Ex, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety, Blood, DSMP AU, DSMP Characters, Depression, Fights, M/M, Multi, Not writing about the real people, Panic Attacks, Slight Eye Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 10:19:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30053937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tubboexists/pseuds/tubboexists
Summary: That’s not what he got. “Sapnap? What in the hell are you doing calling me? Are you out of your mind?” Wilbur’s voice sounded exhausted, like he’d just gotten done with a 15 mile dash. Not a single hint of drowsiness, however, like he’d just woken up to call his phone.“What do you mean?” It was the best response he could manage to the questions. Not much time was given to receive an answer, though, as he quickly went back to what he needed to know. “Wilbur, are you in your house right now?”Quackity and Karl only grew more bewildered with each action made or word spoken, and they just accepted their questions may not be given any kind of answer. The most they could do right now is try to listen in on the conversation through the phone. Which, luckily enough, wasn’t all too hard to do due to the almost deafening silence around them.There was a hitch in Wilbur’s breathing when he heard the question. Not something alike to a sad or excited kind of hitch, it sounded like he was just struck with an overwhelming fear.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Karlnapity - Relationship
Kudos: 11





	The Rain Echos [DSMP AU]

There was a blood-curdling scream that echoed throughout the house. A scream that, naturally, caused all three of the partners to shoot out of bed in a panicked frenzy. While the screech sounded little too human, their tired states weren’t capable of putting those pieces together. Torrid darkness engulfed their room. The only thing about it that they paid much of any attention to was the heat. It was assumed the air conditioning went out, making all three men feel even more gross amongst each other as they were sweaty from being under blankets and cuddling. 

None of them let their anxieties get too intense as they looked and felt around in the darkness, finding that each one was okay and safe. Quackity, most of all, was beyond happy they were still here and the scream wasn’t one of them being harmed.

However, just because they were now sure each other were safe and uninjured didn’t mean they suddenly weren’t at all taking concern to the noise that woke them up in the first place. Grabbing his phone and not paying attention to much other than the flashlight, Sapnap was the first to jump out of bed. More like crawl, with him being in the middle of the other two, but managed to wiggle himself free regardless. Turning his phone flashlight on, the man turned it to his partners with a silly smile on his face that was only slightly lit up. Karl was quick to cover his eyes, but it took the other male a second to process and hide his face. Being the person he was, Quackity could only laugh at his delay of a response. 

After they all were satisfied with the fun they’d had using the flashlight, which wasn’t long as they needed to preserve their battery power in case this turned into an adventure, Sapnap urged the other two off the soft mattress. The duck hybrid climbed off first, followed by the time-traveler. Like little ducklings, they followed their partner as he led the way to the front door.

Despite being more well-known as the most courageous of the group, he was certainly getting a slight uneasiness the closer to the exit he got. With the two doorways and a hallway they had to get through to even reach their destination, an intense fear was beginning to build up. Yet, he wasn’t even sure for what.

Whatever that sound may have come from wasn’t even crossing his mind at all. Perhaps this was an instinctual fear, but in that case, wouldn’t that make this situation all the more worse to jump into? 

All of the heat and pitch blackness that swallowed their home made it that much harder to ease his unknown fear. If it weren’t for the sake of the possibility that this could be someone in desperate need of help, he would’ve quickly gone to fix whatever problem their AC had and simply go back to bed with his partners.

Fate was unavoidable when he finally set foot in front of the door, his two fiancés standing behind him patiently, and he’d had a grip on the doorknob already. At first, he stood there trying to calm himself before opening the door, until the realization that he had no reason to be scared came into mind. Never before was he the one who would get so frightened over things like this. The fact that he was letting his fear consume him now was silly. 

With a newfound optimism and hope of finding whoever would be outside and in trouble, Sapnap swung the door open. A smile shone on his face, but something was wrong, and it was slowly eating away at the readiness he’d convinced himself into having. 

Telling exactly what was wrong wasn’t easy to necessarily put a finger on. Something just felt off. Maybe it was a strange staleness in the air or the fact that no sound could be heard outside. Not the sweet songs of crickets who would make up for the lack of birds out and about to please the ears of passersby, barely even the soft sounds of leaves brushing together in the wind. What may as well be the only thing that could be heard easily and without struggle was the rhythm of a water droplet falling into a puddle just a little ways away. That was only thanks to the rainstorm that raged on before the three had fallen to sleep.

Most importantly, however, there was no sign of where that scream had come from. Cries for help, joyous laughter, or footsteps running- none of it. The fear that they took too long, even if the walk from their room to the front door wasn’t a lengthy one, and now whoever was trying to get help is already in more danger than before. 

What had to be done about that was obvious, at least to him. A swift turnaround followed by his gaze on the two other men, Sapnap tried to ask as hurriedly as he could for one of them to go and fetch a flashlight from the living room, just in case this took longer than his battery life would hold out for. Karl being at the end of the little line they had formed, ran to take care of that. 

Odd feelings of fear and anxiety crawled up his spine as he allowed his back to face the outside, just giving Quackity a comforting smile before turning back around. Not a space went unchecked by his gaze. The scream had sounded like it came just a little farther away from the bedroom window, not much to the left or right but instead straight forward. Being that they all lived in a small forest home, the road out from here was fairly far off, but most likely where whoever was in here got taken. There was no real reason to wander around the forests here, as there was close to nothing.

There was probably way too much thought being put into where the source of the scream went, but it was hard not to think about it a lot when someone’s life could be on the line. Sapnap kept trying to piece where the victim may have gone but was cut short by a poke on his shoulder.

“Here you go!” Karl said with a silly smile on his face, which was just barely readable due to the darkness. Thanks were given just before Sapnap decided to gently take the flashlight from his partner’s hands, hoping that since they hadn’t ever had to use this, the battery would last a good while. There was the possibility they may be searching for a long time.

In a signal of readiness, the flashlight was turned on and the leader of the line, being formed just the same as before, let out a mighty huff. Sometimes his relentless bravery was funny, or to the others, cute. Sapnap began making his way from the home’s doors, only pausing for a second to let Karl close them without getting lost in the deep blackness, and trampled along the pathway to the road. The other two had no idea where he was going, but went along with it anyway. All they could hope was that their partner knew what he was doing in some way. 

Truth be told, however, the growing fear that the victim wouldn’t be found because of how long they had taken was still plaguing his mind. Not like it was something he’d ever share with the others. Instead, he headed towards somewhere he knew, in hopes of answering a different question. Though the two just barely knew each other at the time, Sapnap wanted to head to Wilbur’s home, being that he was the closest. Outside wasn’t nearly as hot as the inside of their room had been oddly enough. In fact, the only reason he wanted to get to the nearest house that he knew he could remember was the fact that trekking through all of this darkness with only a flashlight and little guide on where he was would get difficult. 

Hopefully, Wilbur would still be home and not about wondering to find an answer himself. Another hope, though not one that should be held onto, was that he would have some kind of answer to why things felt so wrong. Something about the world felt incredibly strange like something major had happened and he just had no clue as to what it was.

Thoughts of the possibilities that could happen and what he should do in each scenario ran through his head, trying to be as prepared as he could be so nobody would get hurt and this wouldn’t be a fruitless adventure. Bits of asphalt that had come loose from the street jumped around the line’s feet when they weren’t being kicked farther ahead. Silent chattering between the two following him could just barely be heard. Less because they were trying to keep secrets and be silent and more because Sapnap’s head was too focused on the trains running across his brain that it couldn’t even try to listen in on whatever they were talking about.

There was that slight curiosity that they’d picked up on where they were headed, but Sapnap didn’t speak up for even a second, pretending to be severely dedicated to finding this victim. If they weren’t aware now, they would be here soon.

The flashlight didn’t make seeing ahead all the much easier in terms of structures that could be awaiting them in the darkness. That’s how dark it was right now. At least it gave a good idea as to where they were if he were to shine it around for a quick reminder, but just shining it straight without checking his surroundings would be getting him nowhere. Quackity and Karl likely thought it was him checking to see if the victim was around them by chance.  
A heavy sigh escaped his lungs as he silently hoped he wouldn’t skip over the house. For each minute longer that they were searching, the double-checks would become more frequent. There wasn’t a chance that he was going to miss the place and just become lost in this odd atmosphere.

Which in the end, was to his avail. Switching direction of the flashlight so quickly may have started to hurt a little bit, but at least he didn’t overlook that familiar home. Each of the fiancés were struck with confusion at Sapnap’s sudden turn off the street, cutting whatever conversation they had been having short. Yet, despite how odd it was, they trusted their partner with almost all of their beings, so they didn’t think twice about following after him. After all, he could’ve just found a sign as to where the victim was taken.... And he had the flashlight. They may have phones, but those could die quick depending on the charge. Being left in the dark didn’t leave a nice taste on their tongues.

Eventually the two noticed the structure of what Sapnap had been headed to. Though, that was only more confusing. Perhaps he was trying to see if Wilbur had a lead or had heard anything?

Without giving the two an answer, as they hadn’t even had much of a chance to ask, the leader of their lineup approached the door. Not a single light was on in the house. It seemed to be nighttime, so there would be no reason for them to be, but it was slightly worrying. This could mean Wilbur’s already gone to sleep, which shockingly enough, wasn’t something he’d planned for. 

First, Sapnap checked the doorknob to see if he could just walk in, but it didn’t move more than an inch before stopping him from moving it anymore. It was locked, in other words. 

Great. The next idea that came to mind was calling him. The two behind him grew only more and more confused by the situation as their partner pulled out his phone and dialed a number they weren’t entirely capable of reading. The soft ringtone could just barely be heard as the phone was put up to his ear. 

It came as a shock with how quickly it was picked up. Couldn’t have been more than 15 seconds. Sapnap was ready for his ear to be yelled off over waking up the poor guy. 

That’s not what he got. “Sapnap? What in the hell are you doing calling me? Are you out of your mind?” Wilbur’s voice sounded exhausted, like he’d just gotten done with a 15 mile dash. Not a single hint of drowsiness, however, like he’d just woken up to call his phone. 

“What do you mean?” It was the best response he could manage to the questions. Not much time was given to receive an answer, though, as he quickly went back to what he needed to know. “Wilbur, are you in your house right now?”

Quackity and Karl only grew more bewildered with each action made or word spoken, and they just accepted their questions may not be given any kind of answer. The most they could do right now is try to listen in on the conversation through the phone. Which, luckily enough, wasn’t all too hard to do due to the almost deafening silence around them.

There was a hitch in Wilbur’s breathing when he heard the question. Not a sad or excited kind of hitch, it sounded like he was just struck with overwhelming fear. Footsteps were soon after heard from his side of the phone, quickly nearing the door enough for Sapnap to realize where he was running. The call ended when the footsteps were easy to hear from where Sapnap had been standing. When they were probably just behind the other side, they stopped. 

Must’ve been checking the peephole to see what was happening. The phone in Sapnap’s hand was tucked back into his pocket just on time. Only one warning was given, and that was the hurried sound of the door unlocking. Right after, the door swung open, almost slamming against Sapnap’s face. There wasn’t a second wasted as Wilbur grabbed the collar of his black sweater and tugged him inside, urging the others to follow.

Little trust was put into the guy, but with their fiancé inside, they didn’t have much choice but to follow after. Less than a minute after they set foot into the house, far enough in to not get stuck on the door, Wilbut did his best to close it as quietly as he could. The lock came after, Sapnap’s flashlight that had fallen onto the floor when he was yanked inside gave slight light onto the amount of locks Wilbur had in place. Now there was just another thing bothering the two’s minds, why was he being so paranoid?

“Absolutely insane, the lot of you.” Wilbur hissed at the group behind him. Normally, he was so kind and patient, at least to a normal extent, something had to have happened to him here recently. What it was wasn’t something the group was aware of, or at least it was something not made public quite yet. 

The duck hybrid stepped towards Wilbur just an inch before he spoke. “Wilbur- why are you acting like this? Why are you bei-” All of his questioning was cut off by a decently loud groan. Some odd familiarity with it sent Quackity into a state of panic, not daring to turn around. Karl and Sapnap were more than eager to see what exactly that was, on the other hand. 

Shaking his head at all the noise they were making, Wilbur turned around to face where everyone else was looking except for Quackity, who was staring at him with wide eyes. It was difficult to see anything in the house. Each individual window was covered with blackout curtains, though it’s not like there was a point. It was pitch black outside anyway. Wilbur had been a step ahead of them. Just as always, he seemed oddly prepared for something like this to happen. Lanterns were placed around the house to light certain areas enough to traverse through, one of those being where the noise had come from.

No more than a single glance was needed to recognize the face. For Karl and Sapnap, it was a face they despised, knowing what he’d done to hurt their beloved fiancé. Karl realized what the noise had likely done to Quackity, knowing how he would freak out over simply memories of him, and turned around to hug the hybrid. It was obvious they were having a panic attack, being it was difficult for them to breathe, they were starting to grip way too tightly onto their beanie, and more signs that typically hinted at such. The first step was helping him calm his breathing.

Meanwhile the other partner looked back towards Wilbur, confusion mixed with hatred in his eyes. The friend only raised an eyebrow in slight curiosity as to what was happening. “Why in the hell is he here?” Sapnap growled, pointing towards the man on the couch, surrounded by mostly off-brand alcohol.

There was no reason for Wilbur to react with sympathy when he had no idea what was going on, but with the reaction giving a slight hint, he tried to keep a calm tone of voice at the least. “Because he’s my friend, I suppose. He was struggling to find a place to sleep, so I allowed him to camp out here. Starting to regret it here recently.” It was hard to tell if the last part was a joke or serious. Sapnap wanted to take it as serious, hoping a good friend wouldn’t make acquaintances with someone like him.

Even with nobody paying attention to him to pick up on it, Schlatt rolled his eyes and shrugged in an obvious sign of disregard for the conversations about him. The old man had changed so much since losing the presidency, and the only people that really cared to check up on him were Wilbur and Connor. Though, Connor would often find it hard to see such a close friend struggling so much, so he wasn’t as frequently around as he used to be but not exactly gone.

“Are you aware of what he did?” The argument continued, Sapnap’s anger only growing hotter with each second that passed. Wilbur shook his head in reply, allowing the fiery man to unleash information that he often tried to hold back. “He abused Quackity. Now he can’t even go without panicking anytime the mention of him is brought up, he can’t trust us like he needs to, and more. You shouldn’t be allowing an asshole like him around.”

Clear sign of hesitance was given before a response could be handed out. That was a lot to put on him, especially in the situation they were in. “I’m sorry Sap, but I can’t let him roam outside alone. It’s too dangerous, and he’s too drunk. He’d die. Besides, he’s not the same person he was.” Attempts were thrown out to look like he really was sorry. Though, deep down, he was just about as angry as Sapnap was.

Talk about adding fuel to the fire. Wilbur was lucky Sapnap had at least the slightest hint of common sense, and tried to stop the conversation there, instead bringing up something else that intrigued him. “Dangerous? What do you mean, it’s just dark. Hand him a flashlight and he’ll be fine. He can take mine.” As he said that, he bent down to actually grab the light.

Another shake of his head, accompanied with a sigh this time around. “The light would likely just get him in more trouble, especially if it’s something like that. He could easily throw it at them, and in his drunken state, he probably would.” Thoughts of what he’d seen when he was running home before rushed into his mind, something that wasn’t desirable to see. 

“Them? What do you mean?” Sapnap asked with a hint of fear in his voice. His mind kept going back to wanting to scream about Schlatt, though this had gained a good bit of it’s attention.

Shock became obvious in Wilbur’s face. Both eyes widened, his eyebrows lifted, and a small appearance of a gasp. Quickly after the initial surprise, his eyebrows instead furrowed slightly. “You’re kidding, do you not know?” Sapnap replied with quickness, explaining that all of them had just recently woken up due to a strange noise. “You heard one of them, then. There’s these creatures wandering about the place. I wish I knew a good way to describe them, but they don’t stick to one appearance. All of them are different.” 

Wilbur tried to explain the dangers of them, or at least what he knew. Plus the way they’d chased him before he got here. While it was interesting to hear if it had been fictional, he spoke about them in a way that made them seem to really be out there. 

Only so much of it could be taken in before Sapnap decided to leave the conversation, not wanting to hear any more about it. He took a glance over to Karl and Quackity to see if their fiancé had calmed down even the slightest bit. Luckily, it appeared Karl had been doing a great job at getting him to come back to himself. That meant he was allowed to do something that would likely get him in trouble, but he found it necessary to do anyway.

Questions were thrown at him when he started walking away from Wilbur, some concern obvious on the man’s face but not seen by him. Eventually, he realized asking where he was going was pointless, and allowed Sapnap to just walk away, instead going over to the other two to check on them as well. 

The eyes of a drunken man lifted onto him as he approached. Not a single sign of happiness showed in the ram hybrid’s face, but he let out a pitiful laugh despite such. “Here to go on about how I hurt your little pretty boy or whatever?” Slight pain stung at his heart when he said something about it. It was a topic he tried to avoid, as the reminders he did such cruel things hurt him as well, but having just heard the conversation with Wilbur, that was the only thing this could’ve been.  
A half empty alcohol bottle was waved at Sapnap when he didn’t speak. Schlatt didn’t try to pry into any reasoning, hoping this would result in him just leaving. Much to his dismay, that wasn’t exactly the thing he was waiting for.

Anger had been easily seen building up in him since he even saw Schlatt, and this was something he wanted to do for a while. With absolute force, Sapnap grabbed a hold of the hybrid’s shirt and tugged him towards himself, taking the breath from the other’s lungs and causing him to spill the alcohol onto the floor. Meanwhile, his other hand was balled up into a fist and ready to pummel his face in. Sure, he didn’t want to ruin the man’s entire life even if he had nothing in it at the moment anyway, but just a few hits would be fine. Not like he didn’t deserve it.

Barely any fight was put up, instead he seemed just as empty and depressed as he had when approached. It was easy to assume that he just didn’t care. Such would make Sapnap struggle to hold himself back, seeing that the old man was so willing to just take a punch. 

Just a split second before he threw his fist, his arm was grabbed. “What in bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” Wilbur spoke up. In the time he gave Sapnap to think of a good response that would leave him with no reason to be kicked out, Wilbur was unfolding the hand that grabbed so tightly onto Schlatt’s shirt. The old man flopped back onto the couch, letting out a small groan as he hit the cushion. Not a single thanks. That’s what was normal now, at least for him. Sometimes it was a genuine question if he just wanted people to hate him at this point.

Sadly, that wasn’t something Wilbur had in mind. The old man was annoying, but he knew the situation he was in, and had no intention of leaving him to rot. 

Calming down Sapnap took more work than it was worth, and it required his two partners rushing over to him when he started to yell at Schlatt again. Signs of Wilbur’s anxiety increasing with each loud noise grew clear over time, as he would start hushing his friend with absolute haste.

Of course the entire situation couldn’t just be over when he’d actually been able to take deep breaths and stop himself from doing something brash. That entire conversation, Schlatt had still been drinking himself away, and he was probably just moments from being blacked out drunk. “Glad you’re finally learning how to shut your stupid fuckin’ mouth.” He commented on Sapnap’s growing silence, obviously building the tension once more.

It took a lot out of him to try and remain calm. Though, it wouldn’t have been impossible had Schlatt not continued speaking words he didn’t even entirely mean. Being so drunk, he barely knew what was going on, or what he was saying. All of this wouldn’t even be formed in his memory bank by tomorrow. 

Getting up was a wobbly process of trial and error, though the ram hybrid did his best to get to his feet anyhow. At first, it was just so he would be at a higher level than Sapnap, hoping to be slightly more intimidating as they argued. Quackity was growing increasingly worried about the situation, but had Karl by his side to keep him calm. 

Yet, it just had to progress. Wilbur could only do so much to get them to back away from each other, but as soon as Schlatt poked a finger at the other man’s face, a fist was attempted to be thrown. Emphasis on attempted.

Eager for a fight like this to start in his drunken stupor, Schlatt was more than ready to hit back, but there was a painful disturbance to the attacks.

With the intention of getting them to both slow or entirely halt their swings, Quackity had jumped in the middle of the two, but only one of them was even capable of stopping in their tracks. Schlatt, however, was hardly able to control his own actions, and continued to swing the bottle in his hand down onto the duck hybrid’s head, sending glass shards flying and an intense blunt force dropping Quackity to his knees. 

It’s been so long since he’s seen Schlatt. It’s been so long since he was hit by Schlatt. Now here he was, on the ground, his ears ringing, alcohol running down his head and mixing with blood that had begun to slightly spill from the gashes glass left on his scalp and face. The shock of it all made it difficult for him to panic like he normally would when the thought of it happening again struck his mind. Instead, his breathing had reached a halt, and anyone who touched him as he was kneeled down rendered useless as it wouldn’t even process that there was someone there. Everything was suddenly so lonely.

Tears began to flow from his eyes, but he had no idea he was crying. It was hard for him to even realize that one of his eyes had been cut pretty badly from the bottle that struck him pretty close to his face. Even despite the sudden lack of half of his vision, he could barely notice it. 

Glass was surrounding him, and in random spots across the floor, yet he felt an intense urge to lay down. They just had to get into a mini fight, and he just had to stop it from getting into a bigger one. Through his pain and panic, he hoped the fighting had at least stopped. Maybe Schlatt had realized what he did and was trying to help him, but he couldn’t tell. Everything felt so numb around him. He couldn’t even hear their voices.

This was why he didn’t want to interact with him, why he didn’t even want to get close. Sapnap would’ve just gotten hurt instead if he’d done nothing, though. Maybe this was for the best. After all, he likely isn’t going to die. Hopefully.

»»---------------------►

Catching up with his own breathing was difficult when his life seemed to be on the line. With the slightest slip-up, everything could be taken from him and he would be gone. Thankfully, he’d thought to try and look closely as to where he was going when leaving home instead of wandering blindlessly in hopes the light of the sun would come back soon to lead him back. It was making this trip just slightly easier and less risk-taking. 

Honestly, the adrenaline from running for his life was the only thing keeping him going, and he’d likely be out cold as soon as he arrived home. Any time he started to slow down due to tiredness, the gigantic thuds of footsteps chasing behind him speed right back up. Sometimes the memory of what wretched screams those things can let out was bad enough to keep him going. Whatever it was, he hadn’t gotten much good enough of a glance to slap a label on it before it caught him. All he’d seen from the light of his lantern was the torn-up corpses of unknown human beings scattered around it as it was feeding off of them still. The thought wasn’t pleasant.

The sole fact that he decided to go on a path that's difficult to come back down at full speed was quite stupid, but it put whatever that thing chasing him was a little farther behind as it had to try and find a way over or around. Plus it’s about as strong as it is smart, so it couldn’t just break trees in half or slice open a rock.

Lucky for him at least, home was within sight, and he just hoped to god that thing wasn’t going to still be chasing him when he got there. 

Since the path there was a straight line now, he decided to turn off his lantern in hopes of warding off the creature, who was a good bit behind but not necessarily enough for it to just give up. Hopefully everything was still intact at home. For all he knew, this thing wasn’t the only of its kind, and has brethren who decided to break his windows in or something to get Schlatt while he was most likely asleep on the couch. Drunk.

The inside of his home was just barely more lit up than the outside by carefully placed lanterns that he’d carried around in case of a blackout. Not the kind of blackout they’re experiencing now, but they can be put to use as if it’s one in the same. Wilbur was silently hoping that as soon as he got inside, the one following him wouldn’t be smart enough to break a window if it was still behind him by then. Just bang on the door and leave after realizing attempting was pointless.

Sooner than he thought it would take due to sudden jolts of energy to actually keep himself alive, he was at his front door, taking a few deep breaths as he stopped. Yet, no matter how much he wiggled the doorknob, it wouldn’t budge very far. None of the windows around him were broken, so this had to have meant Schlatt got the bright idea to lock him, the literal house owner, out.

Dread of what would happen if he didn’t get in soon was beginning to take control of his every action. Without even thinking of what noise he may be making, Wilbur used his free hand to bang on the door loud enough to surely wake Schlatt up, screaming for him to unlock the door as quickly as he could.

There was no response at first. Not a single noise. Maybe it was just because Schlatt’s slippers didn’t make squeaks across the wooden floor in front of the door, but Wilbur kept banging and yelling anyway. Only for a second did the hammering of his fists stop, as he shined the lantern behind him to see what was going on. The bright flame inside shone far, but not an incredible amount. Still, he was now able to see the creature beginning to approach through a silhouette that was just barely noticeable thanks to the light. 

Wilbur was now being sent into a full-blown panic, if the door wasn’t opened soon he could be a dead man. “Schlatt, open the door! This is my house, godda-” At that instant, the wooden door creaked open, barely quick enough. His reaction was instant, with Wilbur grabbing a hold of the side and swinging it open before rushing inside. Still too panicked to worry about possibly being too noisy, he slammed the door shut and locked it back as quickly as he could.

Apprehension made him feel sick to think of doing this, but he pursued the idea. Slowly, as he was still steadying his breathing, Wilbur looked into the peephole, only to see the creature mere steps away. Which was soon followed by a loud THUD against the front door, sending the two men who were near enough to be affected back.

Without a clue as to what was happening, Schlatt attempted to go to a window to see what was happening outside with a better view than through a tiny peephole. Didn’t get much more than a step before Wilbur forcefully grabbed his arm and yanked him back. “Don’t move from this spot until we can be sure it’s gone.” 

“Can I at least go get another bottle of vodka?” Schlatt whispered in an almost mocking tone. The fact that he was even capable of being handled as a normal person at this point was shocking. All he got for an answer was the shake of a head. As well as, despite how awkward it felt between the two of them, not letting go of his arm so he couldn’t just walk away anyway. 

Both of them stared at the doorway expectantly, waiting to hear the sounds of shuffling or groans. Just as predicted, there was a small amount of banging similar to what Wilbur himself had been doing before. It was hard to tell if it was trying to imitate him to be let inside or just trying to break the door down. Though it had no way of being strong enough, it was hard not to let the fear of the door coming down and them both dying right here get to him.

Eventually all of that noise stopped. There was no longer any hint as to what was happening outside that door, and fear wouldn’t allow him to see if it was looking in either window. 

That was until a quiet, inhuman sound sung out from the outside, followed by loud footsteps growing more and more distant. A sigh of relief allowed Wilbur to finally let go of Schlatt, who scoffed as he yanked his arm as far away from the other man as he could. “May as well go and take a shower now that I’ve got your hand sweat all over me.” The joking tone was quite clear, though it still sounded harsh coming from a hung-over friend who couldn’t quite keep up with his own thoughts.

Still, Wilbur tried to just laugh it off as Schlatt walked back over to the couch, taking a seat next to his mess of empty alcohol bottles and beer cans. Any average person would likely think to heal a hangover the sane way, but instead he grabbed one of the many bottles around him. It wasn’t even slightly cool. Yet, he was quick to gulp down a good portion of it. Without a clue in the world as to what just happened, his first idea was to get drunk again and forget it within a few hours of being alone on the couch, most likely blacked out.

The sight was pathetic to Wilbur, but he had no way of stopping him. Anytime he tried to in the past would end in a bad fight or his friend getting overly depressed with no way to get rid of it. Not like the alcohol was helping with these depressive episodes outside of him not knowing what in the world is happening around him half the time. Most of the time he doesn’t even remember his name, or the occasional moment where he’s so drunk he can’t speak.

If he didn’t care about the old man doing something bad, he would’ve kicked him out by now. He just had to be all the poor guy’s got outside of a friend that won’t show his face around quite as much anymore.

Making sure to check the peephole and windows one last time to ensure they weren’t being watched by one of those things, Wilbur then went to sit in the armchair closest to where Schlatt often slept and sat on the couch. Normally he would at least turn on the television, but there was no power being sent to it, so Schlatt was entirely alone with his thoughts now. That alone was enough to scare him.

By now, he knew that the same answer as every other time would be given if he were to ask about how Schlatt’s holding up, so he avoided the question while still trying to show genuine concern. Striking conversation with him right now was hard. Schlatt obviously just wanted to drink the night away already, not even having the slightest glimmer of hope, and Wilbur didn’t know how to stop him.

It was something that had to be said. “Bud, I’m going to need you to be extra careful for at the very least tonight. There’s something out there. Maybe more than one.” The seriousness in his voice was borderline terrifying, but the ram hybrid didn’t seem too affected by it. Really all he did was look in Wilbur’s direction and take another sip from his bottle of vodka, completely disregarding anything he’d just been told. As always.

Seeing his friend not care about their lives being in potential danger at all was a tad bit infuriating, but what else would you expect from a depressed alcoholic? 

This wasn’t going to be a long, one-sided conversation that he was entirely willing to have. So instead of trying to convince at least a small response out of him between sips, Wilbur tried to explain the things he’d just seen. Again, there was no response, not even much of a look of fear. Even his gaze wandered off. Staring outside of the window, like something was there, when there obviously wasn’t.

Giving in, Wilbur got up from the chair after only talking for a few minutes. He tried to explain that he needed to find something before taking a lantern with him down to a storage room. One of the first things he needed was to get some curtains that would stop anything from seeing inside and bringing harm to one of them.


End file.
